Sword Art Online: A Noob's Perspective
by BluMesa
Summary: A boy named Foruno Ichiro and his best friends try to survive in the world of Sword Art Online. As expected, they face many odd obstacles and seem to have the worst of luck. The four make the best of their time despite being trapped, but stress gets to us all. Will they be able to cooperate long enough to make it out of the game together, or will they go their separate ways?
1. Chapter 1

My name is Foruno Ichiro and this is my story of how I survived in the amazing world of Aincrad.

It all started when my friends: Jieimusu Areiku, Misotora Kashito, and my American friend Douglass Everburn and I were waiting in a line for 7 hours. We had even skipped school to get here in time to get our copies. We were just chatting away to pass the time, and at some point Areiku exasperated, "Man! I wish they would make a full-dive game of Equestria."

To which I replied, "Does everything with you have to be about My Little Pony?"

Areiku faked a laugh and elbowed my arm, "Oh, come on, you know you like it!" At that point, I wasn't in the mood to let this argument continue. So I shooked my head and let his jarring comment slide.

Kashito spoke up then, (to change the subject) and said, "Well what do you guys want to do when we enter the game?"

Douglass laughed, "None of us have even played before, let alone used a Nerve Gear. How should we know what we want to do once we get in?" Kashito was one of the lucky thousand people chosen to beta test the game, and he had forgotten that we didn't really know anything about the game. He'd tried to let us make an account on his Nerve Gear, but apparently the beta test only allowed one account per Nerve Gear. So we had to wait and endure the constant bragging about the game.

Kashito nodded, "That's true. Well, then I guess that I will just have to choose what we do then." Everyone laughed and then suddenly went quiet as they imagined the situation his decision would lead them into. Once we reached the counter, the clerk gave us a tired smile.

"How many copies do you need?"

"Just enough for the three of us," I said, waving my hands to include the two of my friends that had not yet received copies. We each paid for our disks and then returned to the parking lot.

"Let's head to my house now." I said. We were planning to stay up all night testing out our skills in SAO. Everyone agreed, and we started running to the train station that would take us to the other side of the city where I lived. On the ride, Kashito explained to us the basics of the game so that we wouldn't have to worry about it when we started to play.

I opened the door and everyone piled into my room. I pulled two futons out of the closet and threw them on the floor and said, "I call the bed, so you three can fight over who gets their own futon." There was a silent pause as the three threw death glares at each other, prepared to do whatever it took to secure that futon for themselves. Areiku quickly jumped on the bed, fending off Kashito and Douglass with two pillows weilded like boxing gloves. I sat on the bed watching them staring at one another after the initial struggle ended, and Douglass had claimed the other futon. When Kashito finally accepted his loss, Areiku threw his pillows back on the futon in celebration.

Kashito snuck a pillow away from Areiku and threw it angrily back, shouting "You suck!" Areiku laughed as he deflected the pillow off his arm, causing it to compact in Douglass's face. We all laughed while Douglass sat there stunned.

He shook his head and said, "Come on guys, we are wasting time that we could be using for SAO." I nodded and the other two settled down. We plugged our Nerve Gears in and lied down.

Once I was situated, I asked everyone, "Are you ready?" Kashito, Areiku and Douglass muttered a confirmation.

"All right then," I said, "Let's go."

Then in unison we commanded, "Link start!"


	2. Chapter 2: The First Encounter (Revised)

After all the system checks were complete, I appeared in an empty space with a big screen and a keyboard. The screen read, "Welcome to Sword Art Online! Please enter a character name and a password below." I thought for a minute and decided to go with the name Sani. After I had typed my new username and password into the keyboard and pressed enter I was taken to a room with my character dressed in basic armor. For the next ten minutes or so I edited every detail of my avatar. When I was finished, I selected "Done" from the drop down menu. A message popped up that read, "Thank you for purchasing the game! Have fun!" I clicked the blue circle. Suddenly, a bright light appeared blinding me for a second as I adjusted to the light of the artificial sun. I had done it, I thought. I had made it to the world of Sword Art Online. Looking around, I noticed three guys standing in a group searching for someone.

I figured they were looking for me so I walked over and said, "Heyo!"

The tallest one, a well-built blonde guy in red armor, slowly turned to me and stared with bright blue eyes, as if he were searching for something.

"Ichiro?"

"Areiku? Are you always going to wear red?"

"Took you long enough!" he replied.

"Shut up," I demanded, "you should really call me Sani since we are in-game now."

Areiku gave me an unconvinced expression. "Fine, then you guys should start calling me Akasuta."

"Well, then I am Oshinobi," interrupted a player in blue armor, whom I had deduced was Douglass. The other player in yellow armor burst into the middle of the circle, taking a heroic pose in front of us all.

"Screw you guys, I am the great Kaminaru no Pantsu!"

"Kashito," Akasuta remarked, "that is a terrible name."

"Did that even fit in the name bar?" Oshinobi added.

"No, I could only fit in Kaminari," he replied. "Nevertheless, you will all refer to me as," pausing to pose heroically again, "Kaminari no Pan..."

Cutting his second introduction short, we gave disappointed gestures and all responded with a strong "No!"

Kaminari's argument was cut short by the ringing of a bell. The four of us looked around confused while thousands of people were teleported into the plaza. Apparently we weren't the only ones that didn't know what was going on. As I looked at the faces around us, there were two things that were showing on everyones face: confusion and fear. Even Kaminaru was surprised, and he was the beta tester of our group. "What could possibly be going on that has even got you scared, Kash… I mean Kaminari." I said jokingly.

"I don't remember anyone saying that there was going to be a big tutorial like this at the beginning of the game," Kaminari replied. "Something is not right." The forced teleportations came to a stop. I noticed a flashing red hexagon with some letters in the sky. I squinted my eyes to try to get a look at it, but apparently squinting doesn't help in virtual reality games. Finally I made out the word warning and was about to say something when the red spread covering the entire sky. Then a red oozing liquid that looked like blood started leaking out of the cracks in the hexagonal patterned , I just stared in awe as lightning flashed and the glob started forming into the red cloak of a Game Master. He floated eerily over the thousands of players. The creepiest thing was that he had no face, at least, not one that was visible. The hood of the cloak shrouding all features in darkness.

I could hear voices in the crowd shouting, "Who's that?", "Is that a Game Master?", and "Where's his face?".

"Attention players!" The mysterious Game Master said, and the noise of the crowd ceased. "Welcome to my world!"

"His world? What the heck does he think he's talking about?" Akasuta asked to no one in particular.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba." The man continued, ignoring the shouts from several players. "As of this moment I am the sole person who can control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed

that the logout button is missing from the main menu, but this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online."

I was shocked, we couldn't log out? Impossible! I waived my right hand down and accessed the main menu. It wasn't there! He wasn't lying. I looked at my friends, they had done the same thing, and they were as dumbfounded as me. I looked back at Kayaba as he continued.

"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves, and no one on the outside can shut down or remove the nerve gear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the nerve gear will emit a powerful microwave destroying your brain, and thus ending your life."

"What! That's absurd!" Oshinobi yelled. He then started speaking in english too quickly for me to understand.

Kayaba continued to speak, "Unfortunately several players' friends and families have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the nerve gear. As a result 213 players

are gone forever from both Aincrad and the real world."

"213 already?!" A random player gasped. "How can we know that we won't be next!"

Coincidentally, Kayaba answered his question in his speech, "as you can see news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus you can assume that the danger of a nerve gear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly there is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost, and simultaneously, the nerve gear will destroy your brain." This caused an uproar. People all around me were shouting the fear clearly shown in their eyes.

"There is only one means of escape," Kayaba said, "To complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on floor 100 and you will clear the game."

"Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please, see for yourselves." Kayaba added.

I opened my storage and found an item called "mirror", I selected it and a small handheld mirror appeared in my hand. As I looked at my reflection in the glass, a light suddenly developed around me. By the yelps of surprise all around me, I could tell that it wasn't just happening to me. As the light faded, I heard Akasuta say, "Hey I was taller than you like five seconds ago! What's happening!"

Confused, I looked in the mirror to see my face, not my avatar's face, but my own. "What just happened?" I asked.

"Beat's me!" Kaminari said, "But, Akasuta's pretty upset that he's short again!"

Kayaba spoke again, "Right now, you're probably wondering, why. Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the nerve gear do all this? My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason, to create this world and intervene in it, and now it's complete."

"Wow someone has a God-complex!" Kaminari shouted.

"This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck players." Kayaba finished. With that, he started to steam and his body evaporated into the sky. The hexagons disappeared, but everyone was still frozen with shock.

"We're screwed!" Akasuka yelled as everyone started to freak out, and all hell broke loose in that pavilion. We had to get out of this place. I grabbed Akasuta and Kaminari and started pushing my way out of the center, and into an alley, with Oshinobi following behind.

"Ok guys." Kaminari said once we had all collected ourselves. "I know where all the good hunting grounds that are by this city we should hurry and get a head start. First, though, I'm going to create party, just click the blue circle and you'll be able to see all three other names under yours." A message appeared and I pushed the blue circle. Kaminari continued, "Now that we are in the same group, make sure to watch out for everyone's health along with yours."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Oshinobi said, "Let's get going then and beat this game!" The four of us checked the maps and headed off to the nearest hunting spot.


	3. Chapter 3: Killing Intent (Revised)

We were walking away from the guild headquarters after resigning. Oshinobi said, "I can't believe they didn't compensate us for our last battle."

"Yeah, it was the level twenty-seven boss for goodness sake!" said Kaminari.

Akasuta added, "Knights of the Blood Oath my butt! They are just a big group of pansies"

"Right?" I replied, "We did most of the work in that fight."

Kaminari, who was trailing behind the group, said "Well at least i got this cool pair of pants!"

We turn around to see him standing _heroically _in just his pants. "What the heck? It's been three months since we started and you're still obsessing over that stupid pants thing!" Oshinobi said, surprised.

Kaminari replied without hesitation, "Yes, for I am Kaminari no Pantsu!"

"Oh God." Akasuta added, "Not this again!"

Since we had nothing better to do, I decided that we should head to the nearest city on this level. Unfortunately, this level had not been explored yet, so there was no clear path to get to the next city. The most direct route would take us through a mountain. At the time, I could imagine the monsters waiting for us in the caves.

We started to get a bit jumpy once we finally arrived. I stuttered nervously, "I don't know about this guys, Maybe we should wait for some more players to show up before going in there."

"This cave is no problem for Kaminari no Panstu!"

This rose a chorus of vulgar remarks. "You guys are no fun!" Kaminari pouted.

To which Akasuta replied, "We're also not retarded."

Oshinobi sighed, "Come on guys, we don't have all day." As soon as we all entered into the pitch black cave, the entrance sealed shut. A mysterious light formed behind us and I turned around to see Kaminari's new pants were glowing.

"I knew these pants were awesome!" Kaminari shouted. Akasuta started to say something, but was interrupted by a bright green light and a sounding alarm.

"I told you guys this was a bad idea!" I shouted over the noise as I drew my sword, "You guys are going to get us killed!" Monsters that resembled zombies began to spawn and we were locked in combat for what felt like forever. Using an uppercut slash move, I tore the zombie thing in half. As it fell to the ground and shattered, I looked around. I was ready for the next one to jump me, but all was silent except the heavy breathing of my colleagues. Turning to them, we exchanged confused glares.

"Well, is that it?" yelled Akasuta.

"The doors aren't open." replied Oshinobi. Suddenly, a loud thud shook the cave walls. Another thud followed shortly after sounding slightly closer.

"What was that?" I remarked. The thudding noises grew louder and closer until they seemed to be coming from directly above us. Then all went quiet and the rocks and pebbles settled around us. We all stood there waiting.

A few seconds passed when Akasuta whispered, "Okay guys, be ready for anything. Oshinobi, stick with me. Sani you and Kaminari should…" His next words were drowned out by the sounds of the cracking of the ceiling. We moved to the walls of the cavern just as the ceiling collapsed and a giant troll-like zombie fell to the floor and gave out a deafening screech. Akasuta and Oshinobi ran to the flank of the creature. I signaled Kaminari to help me distract it. We continued to take turns flanking the the creature until finally, Akasuta slashed downward in a battle-hardened groan, separating the face of the zombie from it's giant head. The creature's face slid off shattered in a brilliant white light. A congratulations banner appeared, and a screen appeared in front of Akasuta giving him a reward for killing the mini-boss.

"Legit!" Akasuta exclaimed, "I got some armor called: Garbs of Tasai."

"Cool, you should try it on." I said, as Akasuta opened up his menu impatiently. When he equipped the armor, he began to glitch-out, and a bright burst of light flooded the cavern. As the light dissipated, we all stared in shock.

Then Oshinobi exclaimed, "Where the hell did those come from?"

"What do you mean? I got it from…" Akustuta paused, noticing his voice was much higher and feminine. Just as surprised as the three of us, he burst out, "What the ****! What happened to my body?" Oshinobi snickered and began a chain reaction. The three of us simultaneously to burst into laughter. "Well, this is awkward" Akasuta whispered. His body had completely transformed into that of a girl. Everything from his face to his chest had completely changed.

"Don't worry," I joked, "It's probably just a glitch!"

Oshinobi blurted, "Let me try it on." Akasuta opened his menu and changed into his other armor set. His body returned to normal. He opened up the trade menu and sent the armor.

Excited, Oshinobi quickly checked his inventory. In a subtle manner, he scrolled down to find the armor, and equipped it. The three of us were puzzled.

"How do I look?" Oshinobi nervously asked, I paused before answering him.

"Nothing happened," I replied, "It's just the normal male version." Akasuta was speechless.

"Man, these stats are really low, you can have it back." said Oshinobi as he sent the armor back and equipped his previous choice.

"But, I don't want it!" Akasuta yelled. He found the armor back in his inventory and checked it's recorded statistics. "Come look at this. These stats aren't low at all!"

I walked over to check, and Akasuta wasn't lying. In fact, the armor rating for it must have been glitchy as well, because it displayed a value of nines that completely filled the bar.

"I think it's just you Akasuta." I told him, "Congratulations, you broke the game!" He gave me one of his death glares.

"Wait, what is going on?" Kaminari butted in.

"If Akasuta wears the armor, he will practically turn invincible." I answered.

"Woah, that sounds worth it to me." Oshinobi said. Akasuta was staring at the armor. You could tell he was trying to make a decision.

"Look, you can try it out for today, and if you don't like it, you can always take it off." I reassured him.

Akasuta pressed his finger to its nameplate, and the armor appeared on him, along with his change in figure.

"I think you look kind of cute, Akasuta." Kaminari breathed out as he turned toward him, only to be met by Akasuta's fist. Kaminari fell to the ground, his health bar now only half full. Akasuta stood over him with an open palm, amazed.

"Don't make stupid comments like that again." Akasuta warned all of us. Kaminari stood up and dusted off his pants without saying a word.

"What now?" I asked.

"You guys realize the cave is open, right?" Oshinobi pointed out.

"Well, if Akasuta wasn't acting so hormonal we might have realized that by now." Kaminari commented rudely.

Akasuta looked like he wanted to finish him off, but he took a deep breath, "Let's just get out of here and head to the next town so I can take this thing off." He took the lead, and we left the cave behind.


	4. Chapter 4: The Departure of a Friend

"We've finally made it." I said. The sun hung low in the sky and shadows were slowly growing longer.

A N.P.C. walked up to us with hands spread out, "Welcome to the village Yama. Sirs, madam, is there anything I can help you with?"

"I'm a guy." Akasuta said, agitated.

The N.P.C. looked baffled. "Excuse me, but are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Akasuta demanded. He stomped off ahead of the group furious.

"Wait up!" I yelled. The group jogged to catch up with him. "You can't let this get to you. It's not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal?" Akasuta retorted, "It is a big deal. Even the villagers think I am a woman. How am I supposed to keep telling myself that this armor is worth wearing if everything I've ever known is going to change because of it?" He made a valid point. I could think of anything to say and he took the silence as proof that he had won. We followed him to the town inn and stepped inside.

"I'm parched." Oshinobi said sighing in relief.

"Me too!" Kaminari agreed. "Also, I'm starving." I nodded my head. The three of us moved to find a table.

Akasuta sighed, "I'm gonna go change into some better clothes."

"Go ahead, we'll save you a spot." I replied. He seemed to lighten up at the thought of changing into different armor, and changing back to his normal self. He walked over to the innkeeper and bought us two rooms for the night. Then he turned and disappeared up the stairs. "He sure is moody today." I said.

"Sure is," Oshinobi replied, "He's letting this get to him a lot more than I expected."

"He almost killed me earlier." Kaminari pointed out.

"Yeah, but you deserved that one." Oshinobi chuckled.

Upstairs there was a sudden outburst of curses, and Akasuta ran down the staircase, now wearing much more casual clothing. His breasts still there and clearly visible. "They didn't go away!" He shouted bewildered.

I looked around, glad to see that we were the only ones in the lobby. "Calm down." I said.

Akasuta's eyes burned with anger as he looked up at me. "Calm down? I'm gonna teach you to calm down here in just a second!" Oshinobi grabbed his arms and impeded his movement towards me. I took a step back aghast.

"We can work this out." Oshinobi said, calming the atmosphere. We moved to one of our rooms for more privacy, as well as to avoid scaring the N.P.C.s that would probably start to appear soon, now that the sun had almost set. "Ok, can you explain to us what your problem is?" Oshinobi asked.

"I just had a permanent life change, my problem should be obvious." Akasuta replied.

"But it's not obvious at all." I said.

"Kaminari added, " I don't see why there's a problem in the first place. It's not a big deal, the game glitched, so what?"

"That is all you guys ever say on the matter. 'It's not a big deal' have you even considered how I feel about all this?" He questioned.

"Of cou-" I started to say but I was interrupted by Kaminari's shout, "What do feelings have to do with anything, you're just a girl, it's not like you're gonna die or something!."

"You know what, screw you guys! I'm done!" Akasuta stomped out of the room in a fury of curses.

"Wait Akasuta! We are supposed to stick together!" I yelled, but he either didn't hear me, or didn't care.


	5. Chapter 5: The King of Familiars: Part 1

Morning came, and as I woke up all I could think about was Akasuta's departure. Was there something I could have done or said differently that would have kept him from leaving? He was my best friend, and we had been together since childhood.

I sat up in my bed, noticing as I did, that I was the first one awake. I stood and equipped my armor, and checked my friends list to locate Akasuta. For some reason I couldn't find his name on the list. A beeping noise brought my attention to the message inbox which was flashing. It was from Akasuta. I opened it, and it read, "Hey, by now I'm gonna guess that you already realised that I unfriended you. Don't worry about me, I just need some time to sort things out."

"This is bad." I said quietly. I woke the others and showed them the message. We began to discuss what we were going to do:

"I think we should go look for him, I kinda miss him already." Kaminari said.

"You mean you miss his feminine charm." Oshinobi snickered, "It's mostly your fault that he left like that in the first place."

"Th-That's not true! I'm just worried. Thats all." Kaminari stuttered.

"Bullcrap!" I replied.

Kaminari let out a sigh, "Whatever."

"Guys, let's just focus." Oshinobi shouted, "We need to go and search the whole town for him. He probably hasn't left the village yet, so we need to find him before he gets too far away."

I sighed, "Fine let's go." The three of us exited the room.

As we walked briskly down the hallway, Oshinobi gave out commands, "We need to split up and search the town. We will meet up at the town square in three hours. We'll discuss what to do if we can't find him then."

"Right!" Kaminari and I replied in sync. I opened the door of the inn and we all stepped out into the light of the artificial sun.

I searched the town left and right, but to no avail. Akasuta was nowhere to be found. Three hours passed and all I could do was wander around trying to find any clues as to his location.

More players had begun to show up in the town, and when we meet in the town square to report, the area was littered with people. "I couldn't find him anywhere." I say.

"Neither could I." Kaminari replied, "I'm getting worried."

"I figured it would come to this." Oshinobi sighed. "We'll just have to continue on without him for now, he'll return whenever he feels like it."

"Well what are we supposed to do while we wait then?" Kaminari asked.

"Train." Oshinobi said.


	6. Chapter 5: The King of Familiars: Part 2

After the tedious task of stocking up enough items for a day of training, we finally left the marketplace and headed of to the nearby forest to start a long day of training. After a couple of minutes of silence, Kaminari bursts, "So what do you guys think Akasuta is up to?"

"You really need to get over him, I'm pretty sure he doesn't swing that way." Oshinobi said.

"How would you know?" Kaminari leered in response.

"What the heck? Just because he likes ponies, does not entirely mean he is gay, Kaminari." I exclaimed. I was still sore about Akasuta leaving, and until now, I never really felt bothered to defend him like I did. Oshinobi's jaw dropped, I could tell he was trying hard not to laugh. Kaminari's dumbfounded expression eased my tension and I turned away and took a breath.

"Well…" Oshinobi said regaining composure. "Let's get started."

Our conversation stayed light, as we were too busy fighting the spawns. Every once and a while, I would hear a "Look out," or "Behind you!" We all choosing to focus on the leveling of our skills. There wasn't much to talk about anyway, Akasuta always kept us distracted with random stories during battle, maybe it was his, or her, way of dealing with nerves. We spent the entire day together; trading, training, and surviving. We already knew each other's stories. I suppose it was mainly because no one could think of anything new or interesting enough to point out to the others. To be honest, it was kind of depressing to watch all of us isolate ourselves during our hunt. It was also dangerous.

Three hours later, I stabbed the last monster of the group. After it sparkled, we were left alone momentarily with silence. Kaminari and Oshinobi were both waiting for me to finish. I turned to them drenched in sweat, or at least, I felt that way. Out of the corner of my eye,I noticed a large pig like creature burst out of the brush, dashing straight for me. Without thought, I slashed my sword in an upward arc, slaying the monster. Seconds later, a man and a small familiar of some sort came crashing out of the bushes were the pig had come from.

"Did he get away?" The man said.

"No 'he's' dead." I replied, "I'm really sorry, I didn't know there was someone chasing it. It was headed straight for me."

The man stopped to catch his breath, "That's... that's ok. It's all live or die here. I'm not all that worried about it." He glanced around, "What are you guys doing out here, anyway?"

"We're just doing some training." I reply.

"Same here." the man said, "My name is Nishikasai, but you guys can just call me Nishi for short."

"Nishi huh, you sure are awfully friendly," Kaminari said skeptically.

"Shut up 'Pantsu'. You've already caused enough problems for today," Oshinobi said and shook his head.

"Whatever," Kaminari replies, "Also, it's Kaminari no Pantsu."

"That's funny," I say, "It's as if you think that people care."

Oshinobi butts in, "Guys, we have more important things to do right now."

"Yeah, like getting tricked by murder guilds," Kaminari stated matter-of-factly.

Oshinobi glared at Kaminari, "What'd I just say? He is clearly a green-player."

"I mean you no harm," Nishi said, holding up his hand with the vulcan live long and prosper sign.

"See Kaminari," I said, "He's a Trekkie."

"That makes no difference," Kaminari refuted.

"Shut. Up." Oshinobi and I said in union.

"By the way," Oshinobi added, "I think I have heard your name somewhere before."

"Of course you've heard of me. I'm the Familiar King," Nishi announced.

"The what?" I asked, dumbfounded. Nishi seemed to think it was a big deal.

Oshinobi nodded his head as if he had remembered something, "Yeah I think that was what they called you, the 'self proclaimed familiar king'."

Nishi looked appalled, "Self proclaimed! I am more than just 'self proclaimed'. Who told you that? Whatever else they said they're probably wrong."

"Yeah, whatever," Oshinobi shrugged. "We are going to go deeper in to train some more. You can come with us or stay here. It won't matter either way."

"Of course I'll come along. That way I can prove to you that I truly deserve my title," Nishi declared.

"Good, then follow us," Oshinobi stated. We traveled deep into the forest, fighting mobs. We learned why Nishi called himself the Familiar King: he had over a hundred different familiars in his inventory that he could use for any sort of task, from fighting, to preparing fine dishes. He was the only recorded person to have done anything close to this. His only flaw was the ability to only have one familiar out at a time, otherwise he would be practically invincible.

After the virtual sun had set, we all gathered around a table at the inn checking out the drops we had received in more detail.

"I'm going to sell most of it," I said. "The amount of gold we made will help us recover though. We were running low."

Oshinobi nodded in agreement. Then suddenly, when he was looking at his inventory his face changed to one of confusion, then surprise. "Guys I got a rare quest," he said. "We'll definitely gain a lot of loot if we complete this. I'll research it then summarize it in the morning. Nishi you're welcome to tag along."

I nodded, "Yes it would be great if you did. You're kinda a part of the group now." Kaminari, having learned his lesson, remained quiet. Silently protesting with his eyes.

"Definitely," Nishi replied, "That sounds like a plan."


	7. Chapter 6: A Quest For Four

Morning came and Oshinobi had us all gather around as he explained the quest. "Okay guys, the item that I received was a letter asking for assistance. It clearly wasn't delivered to who it was being sent to, so it is our job to travel to a small village, named Erdin, and talk to the blacksmith there, since he is the one who sent the letter. I see this quest being a longer one than the basic stuff we normally do.."

Kaminari interrupted, "But wait, what do you mean by that?"

"Well obviously," Nishi snarked, "If you were smart enough, you would understand that this is a more detailed quest that is full of story and side quests and will, therefore, take more to complete than a simple fetching or gathering quest that your group has most likely grown accustomed to."

"Wow" Is the only thing I managed to mutter, I laughed as I saw Kaminari's face turn red. I couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment, or anger.

Oshinobi smirked, "As I was saying, the quest seems as if it is going to take longer so we should probably stock up pretty well. Also each person should carry at least two teleportation crystals in the case of emergencies. Stock up on potions and put any unnecessary items in storage. We will probably be getting a lot of loot during this mission, so you need to make sure you have the inventory space."

"You really put some thought into this," I said surprised.

"That's kinda what I do, plan the stuff," he replied.

"Well let's get started." Nishi said impatiently.

"Ok let's head to the market to stock up on items," Oshinobi said.

"Do you think one hundred healing crystals will be enough?" Kaminari asked.

"Well that depends," Oshinobi said. "Are you going to put on some real armor, or are you still going to just wear those leggings?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Kaminari puffed his chest. "For I am the great -"

Oshinobi and I were ready this time, and said it in unison with him. "Kaminari no Pantsu"

I sighed, "We get the concept."

Nishi smirked. Oshinobi sighed and finished, "Then no, you'll carry extra crystals since you won't be fighting as much. So get around three hundred more."

Kaminari looked baffled, "Won't be fighting as much? What are you talking about?"

Oshinobi sighed, "If you're not going to properly equip yourself, you'll end up dying. Therefore, you will be in charge of standing back and keeping everyone else alive."

Nishi actually started laughing that time. Kaminari lowered his head, but suddenly raised it up again. I assumed he reminded himself why he continued to wear those pants. (For whatever reason that was.) "Fine then, I accept your challenge." He said with a heightened confidence.

"It wasn't a challenge," Oshinobi said, "It was an order, but if that's what it takes to get you to do your part then go ahead." Kaminari remained unphased so Oshinobi sighed and began to explain the tactics. "Okay, so when we enter the dungeon we are going to have to keep a formation. If we follow it correctly it will save us a lot of time. The formation will be a trapezoid, with me and Sani up front spread out, and Nishi and Kaminari taking the rear closer together. I got a good look at your fighting style when we trained Nishi. This formation will allow you to summon your familiars, in the area between me and Sani."

"That works with me," Nishi said giving a slight nod.

"Okay now that we have that worked out let's finish up here and head out." Oshinobi said satisfied.

It took a while to make the trek to the village. In fact, if it weren't for the quest flag, we probably would have gotten lost several times. Finally, we saw the peaks of the tallest buildings and as we reached the top of the hill, the entire town was visible below us. The town was practically vacant. I only saw one NPC the whole walk to the blacksmith. As we reached the workshop, the smell of burning coal was strong. The blacksmith, an older man, had grey hair, and yet a strong back, probably a bonus from the trade.

Oshinobi approached the man and gave him the letter. "Where did you get this?" The blacksmith asked worried and angry. Oshinobi explained to the man how we came across the letter. "So the monsters got the poor boy, eh? I knew it was a bad idea to send someone so young."

Oshinobi replied, "I'm sorry for your loss sir, but we believe that we can help. We are adventurers and are up for a quest."

The man smiled, "My name is Forn, it's nice to know there are still kind hearted people out there who help the weak," We introduced ourselves, and he shook our hands. "There is something dangerous lurking around this village at night," Forn said, "It's killing our villagers one by one."

"How can we stop it?" Kaminari asked.

Forn chuckled and gestured to the chairs cluttered around his workshop, "Sit, please, and let me tell you a story."


	8. Chapter Side Story: Dry Monologues

**Apologies for the long wait, but school had become overwhelming! Now that I am back on track the Story should come out more often! I have some cool stuff in mind for this story so I hope you enjoy it. Also check out the first chapter of my book Ebbing on fiction press! (same username)**

Forn cleared his throat and shifted in his seat to get comfortable. "Alright, let's get started," he said." We all nodded and he began his story;

"In the village there has long been a story of a creature of extreme beauty that roamed these land far before humans had discovered it.

When the first settlers arrived, the creature greeted them, and welcomed their settlement of the land. The land was excellent for farming. Happy with this turn of events the settlers lived out their everyday lives with the creature. They shared their crops and the creature would always tell the children wild tales of adventure.

A century passed as they lived and prospered from the land. But unfortunately, all good must come to an end. The settlers were so supplied that they didn't need anything. They became greedy and rumors began to spread that the creature was hiding something of value from them and they grew jealous.

One night, while the moon rested the settlers sent someone to follow the creature and search its abode. The scout used the shadows to keep out of sight and the creature led him to a cave. The entrance was carved out of the marble in extravagant patterns, and a shimmering gold light shined out from inside.

The scout followed the creature into the cave which was much bigger than it appeared to be from outside, and looked for anything suspicious. To his amazement the man found a dagger with a golden hilt and sheath, and covered in jewels.

He brought the dagger back to the village, and the next morning the villagers questioned the creature, demanding to know why the dagger was kept hidden from them when they shared everything with the creature.

The creature was furious, it left the village revoking the villagers privilege to live on its land.

The villagers grew desperate. A group gathered the few weapons that they had and followed the creature back to its home where they attacked it and left it for dead.

Some people used to say that the creature would return in one hundred years and exact his revenge. This year marks the hundredth year since the villagers attacked, and people have started to go missing." Forn sighed and looked down.

"So we are here to see what is happening to them?" I ask.

"Do you believe that it's the creature that is doing this?" Kaminari interjected.

Forn nodded, "What else could it be? It's happening exactly 100 years after the incident."

"Do you know where the creature's cave is?" Oshinobi asked inquisitively.

Forn pointed his blackened finger, "It's to the North. I've been afraid to go lately, but there should still be a clean cut path through the forest to get there."

A notification appeared congratulating us on finding and talking to the blacksmith. A new objective appeared in its place on the quest bar. "Follow the path to the cave." We thanked Forn for his time and left the blacksmith.

"Alright, time for some action!" Nishi said excited.

"That or there'll be a bunch more dry monologue." Oshinobi said.

Kaminari groaned, "That sounds awful! I'm dying of boredom! Let's just slay some monsters already!"


	9. Chapter 7: Daydreaming

We headed towards the cave, along the way nothing much happened other than the exchange of stories between us and Nishi, who seemed very full of himself and pleased to tell us all about his endeavors.

When we reached the entrance to the cave, Oshinobi stopped us so that we could discuss tactics. While he was talking I let my mind wander a bit and looked over at Kaminari. He was staring at the entrance, eyes wide, I assumed that he hadn't been paying attention at all since we'd arrived.

I looked back at Oshinobi when I heard my name, he continued, "You will be on the front lines with me."

"Understood."

Oshinobi clapped his hands together, "All right let's do this!"

Kaminari finally returned to reality, and gave a confused look. Nishi pointed a finger to the sky and shouted, "Onward!"

We headed into the cave and met with the normal low level mobs. Eventually we made our way far into the cave, Oshinobi had stopped us for a breather so he could study the map that he had been creating. "Okay it looks like there is some kind of larger room about three hundred meters from here. So I think we should head that way for now and loop back around if it turns out to be a dead end." he said.

"Sounds good to me." I responded and stood to my feet. Nishi nodded and stood as well.

Kaminari jumped up, "Lets do this then!" He ran ahead.

"What does the concept of sticking together even mean to you?" I yell after him. I shake my head and look at the other two. They both nod and we rush after him.

As we head towards the large room, there are fewer and fewer torches along the wall. In the room it is almost completely dark. The only thing I can see is Kaminari up ahead in the glow that his armor makes. "Kaminari, it's not safe in here, we need to stay close, especially since its dark.

He laughed, "Nah, I'll be fine!" He turned towards us and started walking slowly. "Anyways, I can handle anything, after all I am the great Kaminari-" His sentence was ended abruptly as a sharp object protruded through his chest. "No-" Was the last thing he said before shattering into a million pixels of light. The three of us stood there in shock.

I wonder to this day if Kaminari's last words were refuting his death, or finishing his phrase, trying to maintain his honor to the end.

Suddenly, torches lit up all around us revealing Kaminari's killer, and the boss fight for this mission. It stood on four feet and looked similar to a unicorn. It's name stood above the four health bars near its head: The Betrayed.

I charged towards it enraged, screaming out. Oshinobi was right behind me. We dealt out hundreds of attacks, almost all were met with a near impenetrable defense. I heard Nishi shout behind me, "Looks like I need to take the U out of unicorn! Come, Kale the Simmering!" Out of nowhere a large dragon appeared around the same size as the unicorn. "Fall back and let my dragon have a go!" He ordered.

We fell back, and the dragon shot out a beam of fire hitting the unicorn with full force causing to fly backwards. Oshinobi and I already knew what to do. We attacked the boss while it was down. We continued these guerilla tactics; allowing the dragon to shoot the unicorn, but keeping the unicorn far enough away from the dragon. Finally, Oshinobi stabbed his sword deep into the monster killing it.

The congratulatory banner appeared, and Oshinobi received the golden dagger as a reward. Nishi walked towards us, "You guys did great in here." We remained silent, mourning Kaminari's death for a while longer.

"What now?" I asked, downtrodden.

Oshinobi sighed, "I honestly don't know Sani."


	10. Chapter 8: A Different Perspective

I found myself browsing through equipment, feeling the need to buy something and momentarily take my mind off of things. There was a sword at particular street vendor that grabbed my attention. After nudging myself between two other players and finally getting an up-close view of it, the sword became ever more interesting. To be honest, I was desperate to get rid of my Knights of the Blood Oath gear, I was the one who pushed we leave in the first place.

"That sword right there is gonna be 23,000 gold, miss," burst the vendor, who noticed my drooling. It still made me a bit angry that everyone saw me as a woman, and it's price was over my head. I thought for a moment, and had an idea.

"Do you take trades?" I asked. The vendor looked intrigued.

"What'cha got?" He replied in his gruff voice. I swiftly pulled my inventory list up, and showed him my old gear. As he examined it, I peeked my head around the side of the interface. His eyes brightened. "Alright," the vendor looked me dead in the eye, "I'll tell you what. I'll make the trade if you throw 7,000 gold in with 'em." I looked down at the sword, I had already decided in my head that it was to belong to me. I extended my hand to him and he met me midway for the deal-sealing handshake.

"Pleasure doing business." He said as we completed the trade. Walking away from the vendor stand, I was looking at the sword's stats, I felt more confident and satisfied when I glanced at the damage level. I was so excited, I had to equip it immediately. Before I closed the inventory screen, I noticed a small, unfilled box at the bottom titled _Item Name_. I selected it and named my sword _Twilight_.

I looked around for a while, satisfied, until I started to think about what I should do next. I did spend almost all of my money, so the logical option would be to find some work and earn some more. I made my way to the pub, and opened the door to the smell of cooking meat and beer. I made my way up to the second floor, heading towards the request board. I scroll through the list of odd jobs and tasks. One in particular catches my interest. REQUESTING ESCORT FOR TEST OF BOSS KILLING ITEM. I accepted the quest and left to head to the meeting place given in the details. It was an inn on the other side of the village. I climbed the staircase and walked towards the listed door. Having knocked thrice, I waited for a response. After a moment or two of waiting with no response, I grew impatient. Then my high level in the perception skill triggered me to someone's presence in the hallway. I let my arm rest, my hand on Twilight's hilt. As if in response, a cloaked figure jumped out from around a corner, sword drawn. I parried with ease, knocking their sword from their grasp, and placing the blade of my own at their throat. "You better start talking right now." I say, trying to make my face as grim as my words.

"Excuse me? You're the one standing in front of my door like some kind of pervert." The voice was effeminate, and the cloak was pulled back to reveal the face of a young girl staring at me with puffed cheeks.

My eyes widened, "This is your room? I'm sorry, I must have the wrong place, I was told to come here for a debriefing of a quest. She looked at me like a prospector looks at a mineral.

"Hmm, you seem like the right guy for the job." She smiled, unlocking her room. "Please, do come in. Excuse the mess, I just posted the request today, I didn't expect it to be accepted so quickly."

"Excuse my intrusion." I said after passing through the doorframe. "So what exactly is it that I'm doing?"

She showed me to a chair and I sat watching her as she fumbled around the kitchen. "Um, basically you're going to be my bodyguard as I transport a special item to a boss room. All you have to worry about is getting me there. You only have to participate in the battle if you want to."

"But wait," I replied. "You're not planning to run in there all by yourself are you?"

She let out a giggle. "Of course not silly, I have a raid party that's going to meet us there. Unfortunately though, they're coming from a different direction, so I need someone to get me to where I can meet up with them.

"Well you've found the right girl!" I decided it was best to not fight it, it makes it less awkward for everyone.

She laughed a little harder at this, "That's a funny thing to say."

My eyebrow raised in curiousity, "What are you talking about."

"A boy shouldn't be calling themselves a girl. Especially not with that amount of unenthusiasm." She smiled.

Eyes wide, I replied, "You can tell?" Who was this girl? What have I got myself into?

"Of course I can silly! Now, let's get started on our strategy."


End file.
